1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for saving draft electronic communications. For example, embodiments of the present invention relate generally to methods and systems for automatically backing up a web-based e-mail while it is being drafted or composed to prevent accidental loss of its content.
2. Background
Since the advent of the Internet and other electronic data networks, electronic mail, often referred to as e-mail, has provided users of such networks with an alternative means of transmitting written communication that is easier and faster than the traditional postal mail. As known in the art, there are two primary approaches to using e-mail communication over a data network such as the Internet. The first and traditional approach is the mail-client approach, which typically involves the user installing a client e-mail program (e.g., Microsoft™ Outlook or Qualcom™ Eudora) for an e-mail account on a user's machine (e.g., a desktop or laptop PC), configuring the program to a host service (e.g., an Internet Service Provider's service) that provides access to the data network, and subsequently using the installed program to draft, send, and receive e-mails. The second approach is the web e-mail approach, which typically involves the user accessing a designated Web site with a Web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer™ or Netscape™), entering a username and password to access the user's e-mail account, and using such account to draft, send, and receive e-mails. With web e-mail, the user can access his/her e-mail account wherever web access is available and without the need to carry around his/her PC.
Although Web e-mail provides users with e-mail communication on the go, one disadvantage with Web e-mail is that when the user is drafting an e-mail on a dedicated web page and wishes to navigate the Web browser away from the e-mailing web page to a different web page or site, the content of the draft e-mail will be lost if the user has not selected to save the draft. Likewise, when the user is drafting an e-mail on a dedicated web page, and the Web browser or the machine on which the user is using crashes, the content of the draft e-mail also will be lost if the user has not selected to save the draft prior to the crash. Although mail-client programs, such as Microsoft™ Outlook and Qualcomm™ Eudora, are known to provide autosave features to automatically save an e-mail while it is being drafted, such autosave features are not found in Web e-mail.